NO ITEMS

The Lost Boys

inside Muzafer Sherif's Robbers Cave experimentGina Perry

‘A fascinating and finely written study of one of the best-known social experiments of the twentieth century. Through archive research and interviews with participants, Gina Perry uses her investigative flair to reconstruct the context, characters, and stakes of this strange piece of history.’

Darian Leader, author of What Is Madness?

“When the first punch is thrown in the opening chapter, you know you’re in for a wild ride. In The Lost Boys, academic sleuth Gina Perry investigates the back story of a real-life Lord of the Flies study of human behaviour at a summer camp. The fascinating journey—which takes us through the history of psychology, Turkey, and even American summer camps—reads more like a detective novel than a psychological history book.”

Susannah Cahalan, author of the New York Times bestseller Brain on Fire

“In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry has created a meticulously-researched, skilfully crafted account of a decades-old experiment that still casts a shadow over the lives of its subjects. This is a fascinating, disturbing and utterly compelling cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific obsession.”

Michael Brooks, author of The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook

“In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry puts these extraordinary experiments under the microscope. As in her 2013 book Behind the Shock Machine, which probed psychologist Stanley Milgram’s 1960s research on obedience, she is unsatisfied with the half-truths lazily handed down in textbooks…The result is an enlightening read, and a ripping yarn.”

Nature

‘[F]ascinating.’

The Times

‘In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry returns to the terrain of morally dubious and manipulative psychological experiments.’

The Saturday Age

‘Fascinating … excellent.’

Weekend Australian

“[A] fascinating study.”

The Guardian

‘Mesmerising … Perry is a deeply thoughtful and empathetic writer.’

Spectator

‘[F]ascinating and not a little chilling.’

Esquire

‘Intriguing ... Written in an engaging style, it will fascinate both academics and casual readers alike.’

Canberra Weekly

‘[Gina Perry’s] central point never loses its shock value: ‘How many psychological wounds were caused in pursuit of scientific and historical understanding?’’

Frances Ween, The Mail on Sunday

‘[A]s engrossing as a thriller.’

Des Breen, Irish Examiner

‘Enthralling.’

Australian Book Review

‘[An] excellent piece of non-fiction interrogating one of the most celebrated pieces of psychological research of the mid-20th century.’

Herald Sun

‘An engrossing expose of the Robbers Cave experiment, a classic study in social psychology, was also a fine historical recreation.’

Gideon Haigh, ABR’s ‘Books of the Year 2018’

‘Touching and horrifying.’

Barnaby Crowcroft, Times Literary Supplement

“This is a wonderful book; I couldn’t stop reading once I started. Gina Perry is not only a thorough researcher, she’s also a great writer. A lot of psychology textbooks will have to be updated after her groundbreaking research.”

Rutger Bregman, author of Utopia for Realists

Competition. Prejudice. Discrimination. Conflict.

In 1954, a group of American boys attended a remote summer camp where they were split into two groups, and encouraged to bully, harass, and demonize each other. The results would make history as one of social psychology’s classic studies, and one of the most controversial: the Robbers Cave experiment.

Conducted at the height of the Cold War, the experiment officially had a happy ending: the boys reconciled, and psychologist Muzafer Sherif demonstrated that while hatred and violence are powerful forces, so too are cooperation and harmony. Today it is proffered as proof that under the right conditions warring groups can make peace. Yet the true story of the experiments is far more complex, and more chilling.

In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry explores the experiment and its consequences, tracing the story of Sherif, a troubled outsider who struggled to craft an experiment that would vanquish his personal demons. Drawing on both on archival material and new interviews with the subjects, now in their 70s and none aware that the summer camps they’d attended had in fact been experimental ruses, Perry pieces together a story of drama, mutiny, and intrigue that has never been told before.

‘A fascinating and finely written study of one of the best-known social experiments of the twentieth century. Through archive research and interviews with participants, Gina Perry uses her investigative flair to reconstruct the context, characters, and stakes of this strange piece of history.’

Darian Leader, author of What Is Madness?

“When the first punch is thrown in the opening chapter, you know you’re in for a wild ride. In The Lost Boys, academic sleuth Gina Perry investigates the back story of a real-life Lord of the Flies study of human behaviour at a summer camp. The fascinating journey—which takes us through the history of psychology, Turkey, and even American summer camps—reads more like a detective novel than a psychological history book.”

Susannah Cahalan, author of the New York Times bestseller Brain on Fire

“In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry has created a meticulously-researched, skilfully crafted account of a decades-old experiment that still casts a shadow over the lives of its subjects. This is a fascinating, disturbing and utterly compelling cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific obsession.”

Michael Brooks, author of The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook

“In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry puts these extraordinary experiments under the microscope. As in her 2013 book Behind the Shock Machine, which probed psychologist Stanley Milgram’s 1960s research on obedience, she is unsatisfied with the half-truths lazily handed down in textbooks…The result is an enlightening read, and a ripping yarn.”

Nature

‘[F]ascinating.’

The Times

‘In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry returns to the terrain of morally dubious and manipulative psychological experiments.’

The Saturday Age

‘Fascinating … excellent.’

Weekend Australian

“[A] fascinating study.”

The Guardian

‘Mesmerising … Perry is a deeply thoughtful and empathetic writer.’

Spectator

‘[F]ascinating and not a little chilling.’

Esquire

‘Intriguing ... Written in an engaging style, it will fascinate both academics and casual readers alike.’

Canberra Weekly

‘[Gina Perry’s] central point never loses its shock value: ‘How many psychological wounds were caused in pursuit of scientific and historical understanding?’’

Frances Ween, The Mail on Sunday

‘[A]s engrossing as a thriller.’

Des Breen, Irish Examiner

‘Enthralling.’

Australian Book Review

‘[An] excellent piece of non-fiction interrogating one of the most celebrated pieces of psychological research of the mid-20th century.’

Herald Sun

‘An engrossing expose of the Robbers Cave experiment, a classic study in social psychology, was also a fine historical recreation.’

AUTHOR

Gina Perry

Gina Perry is an Australian writer. Her feature articles, columns, and essays have been published in The Age and The Australian, and her short fiction has been published in a number of literary magazines, including Meanjin, Westerly, and Island. Her first book, Behind the Shock Machine, was about Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiences, and her co-production of the ABC Radio National documentary on the experiments won the Silver World Medal for a history documentary in the 2009 New York Festivals radio award. In 2013 she was a finalist in the UNSW Bragg Prize for Science Writing.